Asserting that its alliance with Janata Dal United (JD-U) will only get stronger, the BJP Thursday termed West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee's efforts for a federal front a diversionary ploy to mask her failures.
Scoffing at Trinamool's call for a non-Congress, non-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) federal front of regional parties, BJP's West Bengal unit president Rahul Sinha said Banerjee's meeting Wednesday with JD-U leader K.C. Tyagi was a mere "pressure tactic".
"With her government facing problems galore, Banerjee is trying to divert attention by talking of the Federal Front. This meeting is not new and there are numerous examples of such meetings to create pressure," Sinha told media persons here.
"Banerjee has been cheated by (Samajwadi Party chief) Mulayam Singh Yadav in the past. She had called him brother but still he went and joined UPA. The same fate will be of this meeting," said Sinha adding that Banerjee has been "used as a pawn".
"Sometimes some people have to be supported and that's why they are using Didi (Banerjee) as a pawn. This won't affect our alliance (with JD -U), rather the alliance will get stronger," he added.
Amid reports of the JD-U likely to snap its 17-year-old alliance with the BJP, following Narendra Modi's appointment as BJP's election campaign committee chief, Banerjee gave the call for the Federal Front and talked to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.
Kumar virtually controls the JD-U, while Patnaik heads Biju Janata Dal. Both are regional outfits.
Kumar too has said that he was in talks with his Bengal and Odisha counterparts over the possibility of the formation of a federal front.